Where to run him next? I suppose I should, and I am, so very thankful that McGoldrick has been such a wonderful servant to me that it if he never races again I have had more pleasure from owning him than most owners could ever wish.
But, even at the age of twelve, I`ve watched him in his work, and he just loves his job. He wants to race and therefore so long as we don`t push him too far, he will continue to race until he tells us otherwise.
The problem is finding him a race these days where he can be competitive, and so it was not a difficult decision to disregard the Freddie Williams Handicap Chase because of the ridiculous11st 12lb he would be carrying at 12 years of age.
So, much as I would have enjoyed having a crack at a repeat performance on Thursday, by refusing to declare him, some other horse will have to do the donkey work and set the race up for a younger better “handicapped” horse on the day. Good luck to them.
Instead we`re going to have a real sporting crack at the Ryanair Chase with all runners off level weight. Dominics available to ride him so, with some fresh rain (hopefully) on the day to soften up the ground,, we might just cause a bit of an upset.
And just watch, despite him, for example, beating Gwanako last year by 13 lengths, and giving him 9lbs as well, you`ll find that McG is available at 66:1 on some books whereas Gwanako is 12:1. Does that make sense?
See you on Thursday
